The invention relates to saddles for horses and concerns a saddletree and a saddle having such a saddletree.
A saddle for a horse conventionally has, connected together, a strength piece known as the saddletree, a seat, two stirrup oars or stirrup carriers, two panels, two flaps and knee rolls, and girth leathers; and attached removable components, girths, surcingles, stirrup leathers and
In conventional designs, the saddletree is composed of several pieces connected together, namely two longitudinal wooden pieces, two curved pieces forming respectively the pommel and the cantle, generally in the form of a flat metallic bar, connecting the longitudinal wooden pieces and rigidly fixed to them; girths placed on the above pieces; and finally a cloth fixed over the girths. The other constituent parts of the saddle are fixed to the saddletree by studding, stitching or the like, that is to say by permanent fixing means.
The document DE 37 02 011 describes a saddletree which comprises a piece made of plastics material arid a kind of frame fixed to the plastic piece removably, supporting the other parts making up the saddle.
The document DE 2 329 436 concerns a cellular plastics material. The document GB 2 227 638 concerns a saddle of the conventional type, part of which is produced from plastics material.
The need has been felt to be able to replace constituent parts of the saddle easily whilst avoiding this being made complicated because of the permanent fixing of the part.
The need has also been felt to be able to assemble a saddle from its constituent parts more simply, avoiding operations of studding or stitching which are lengthy, tricky and expensive.
Finally, the need has been felt to reduce the weight of a saddle of traditional appearance in order to adapt it to sports riding activities.
To this end, a first object of the invention is a saddletree intended for producing a saddle, notably for a horse, having a single-piece strength part forming a pommel, a cantle, a base and a support for the other constituent parts of the saddle.
According to the invention, the saddletree comprises essentially the single-piece part, which is produced from materials, such as composite materials, chosen for their suitability for being shaped to the required form for the saddletree, to confer on the saddletree the required qualities of strength and flexibility and to provide the incorporation in the peripheral pact of the strength piece a plurality of removable positioning and fixing members, for the other constituent parts of the saddle (panels, flaps, knee rolls, girth leathers, padding, seat, skirts, pommel and cantle backplates etc) in the form of holes, spikes, hollow recesses, reliefs, screwing inserts, buckles or the like, so that the said constituent parts of the saddle are positioned and fixed to the part by virtue of the members.
Another object of the invention is a saddle, notably for a horse, comprising a saddletree comprising essentially the single-piece strength piece provided with any removable positioning and fixing members as well as two stirrup bars, incorporated or not into the single-piece part of the saddletree, two panels fixed against the internal face of the saddletree, where applicable, one or more pieces for padding the external face of the saddletree, two flaps and two knee rolls disposed laterally, two girth leathers disposed laterally towards the pommel and a piece forming a seat covering the external face of the saddletree, the panels, the padding piece or pieces, the flaps and knee rolls, the girth leathers and the piece forming a sear being provided with removable fixing members complementary to the positioning and fixing members incorporated in the saddletree piece.